When Chlotar I died in 561, his kingdom was divided, in accordance with Frankish custom, among his four sons; Sigebert became king of the northeastern portion, known as Austrasia, as well as of portions of Aquitaine and Provence, to which he added further territory on the death of his brother, Charibert I, in 567 or 568. Incursions by the Avars, a fierce nomadic tribe, compelled him twice to repel their attacks (562 and c. 568). About 566 he married Brunhild, daughter of the Visigothic king Athanagild, whose other daughter, Galswintha, married Chilperic. When Chilperic had Galswintha murdered in order to marry Fredegund, Sigebert was obliged to seek revenge. The two brothers had already fought each other, but this hostility was elevated by the incident into a long and bitter war that was continued by the descendants of both. Sigebert defeated Chilperic, conquered most of his kingdom, and compelled him to hide in Tournai. But at his moment of triumph, when he had just been acclaimed king by Chilperic’s subjects at Vitry, he was struck down by two assassins in the service of Fredegund.

567 Paris Merovingian king of the Franks, the eldest son of Chlotar I and Ingund. He shared in the partition of the Frankish kingdom that followed his father’s death in 561, receiving the old kingdom of Childebert I, with its capital at Paris. Eloquent and learned in the law, he was yet...